What happens next for Mark Pope and Kentucky?
You couldn’t ask for a better start to the Pope era, but what comes next for the Wildcats?Wednesday’s “double boom” of commitments brought Kentucky’s 11-day total to seven transfer portal commitments.

The Wildcats’ 7-man transfer class is ranked No. 3 nationally by 247Sports behind only Indiana and Kansas and of the teams ranked in the top 15, only Louisville has more commits (8) and new Cardinals head coach Pat Kelsey had the benefit of a 2-week head start.

West Virginia transfer Kerr Kriisa commits to Kentucky

Kerr Kriisa who shot 42.4 percent from three last season is joining the Wildcats.

Mark Pope and Kentucky have added more backcourt help as West Virginia point guard transfer Kerr Kriisa committed to the Wildcats Wednesday.

Kriisa is a native of Estonia who started his college career at Arizona, where he signed as a four-star prospect ranked the 69th best player in the country and 12th best point guard in the 247sports’ 2020 class rankings.

As a true freshman, he played in just eight games for Arizona, but as a sophomore, he played in 33 and started 31 for Arizona, in which he averaged 9.7 points per game, 4.7 assists and 2.5 rebounds while shooting 34.8 percent from the field and 33.6 percent from three in Tommy Lloyd’s debut season as head coach.

In his junior season of 2022-23, Kriisa played in all 35 games and started 34 for Arizona. He averaged 9.9 points per game, 5.1 assists and 2.4 rebounds while shooting 37.2 percent from the field and 37.2 percent from three. The season saw Arizona win the PAC 12 Tournament title and earn a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

 

This past season, Kriisa played at West Virginia where he started all 23 games he played in for the Mountaineers as he missed nine games after being suspended for accepting impermissible benefits while at Arizona.

The 6-foot-3 point guard averaged a career-high 11.0 points per game, 4.7 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 0.8 steals while shooting 42.9 percent from the field, 42.4 percent from three and 77.5 percent from the free throw line.

He scored a season-high 25 points in a loss to Kansas State, scored 24 and grabbed five rebounds in a loss to Pope and BYU and logged a double-double with 12 points and 10 assists in a victory over Toledo.

Kriisa, a four-star transfer prospect ranked 118th in the NCAA and 28th best point guard by 247Sports, will have one season of eligibility in Lexington.

He is the Cats’ eighth transfer portal addition this summer, joining forwards Amari Williams (Drexel), Andrew Carr (Wake Forest), Brandon Garrison (Oklahoma State), and Otega Oweh (Oklahoma), as well as guards Koby Brea (Dayton) and Lamont Butler (San Diego State).

Overall, UK currently has nine players signed for the 2024-25 season, including incoming four-star freshmen guards Collin Chandler and Travis Perry.

Kentucky Basketball Transfer Portal Tracker.
Keep track of all the Wildcats’ offseason activities in one convenient location.

Kentucky basketball is entering a new era. John Calipari left Lexington after 15 seasons to become the next head coach at Arkansas, and Mark Pope, a former UK national championship-winning center and head coach at BYU, is now the Wildcats’ boss.

A coaching change triggers a surge in transfer portal activity.